Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Increases Holdings in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,626,381 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,894 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in COPT Defense Properties were worth $50,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 77.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in COPT Defense Properties by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in COPT Defense Properties during the fourth quarter valued at $90,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in COPT Defense Properties in the third quarter worth $91,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in COPT Defense Properties in the fourth quarter worth $110,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on COPT Defense Properties in a report on Monday, March 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $33.43.

COPT Defense Properties Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CDP opened at $26.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.47. COPT Defense Properties has a fifty-two week low of $23.47 and a fifty-two week high of $34.22. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.52 and a 200-day moving average of $29.26.

COPT Defense Properties (NYSE:CDP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.65. COPT Defense Properties had a return on equity of 9.07% and a net margin of 18.44%. The firm had revenue of $187.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that COPT Defense Properties will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

COPT Defense Properties Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.305 dividend. This represents a $1.22 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. This is an increase from COPT Defense Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. COPT Defense Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 99.19%.

COPT Defense Properties Profile

COPT Defense Properties is a real estate investment trust. It acquires, develops, manages, sells, and leases out office properties and data centers. The firm operates through the following segments: Defense/Information Technology Locations, Regional Office, Wholesale Data Center, and Other. The company was founded on January 22,1988 and is headquartered in Columbia, MD.